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montmill

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Mostly I sand the end of blanks to get them flush with the brass. For many years I've used a pen mill for most of the large removal and then fine tune with the sanding jig. I tend to leave the blank a little proud for the initial fitting, then flush before assembling the pen. It finally hit me, why mess with all that material? Why not turn down the blank to a comfortable diameter, then do the balance on the sanding jig? So much less material to remove, material that isn't necessary at all.

How do you trim your blanks?
 
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Pen mill in a drill press, turn to size and apply finish. I made a disk sanding jig for the lathe but It's too much trouble to set up for one or two pens. The DP is set up for pen blanks or anything else that needs a hole drilled in it.
 
montmill said:
Mostly I sand the end of blanks to get them flush with the brass. For many years I've used a pen mill for most of the large removal and then fine tune with the sanding jig. I tend to leave the blank a little proud for the initial fitting, then flush before assembling the pen. It finally hit me, why mess with all that material? Why not turn down the blank to a comfortable diameter, then do the balance on the sanding jig? So much less material to remove, material that isn't necessary at all.

How do you trim your blanks?
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Several years ago I switched from a pen mill to do like you are, sanding with one of Rick Herrell's sanding jigs.
Just doesn't make since sanding all that extra material.
 
Disc sander with jig holding blank square/straight to miter guide. I also round off blank's square edges on sander, I feel it is much easier on blank once its on the lathe.
 
It depends on the blank. For color casts and wood blanks I use a mill. For clear casts - especially snakeskins, I sand flush to tubes after turning it down close. It has cut down on the resin pulling g away from the skins while turning.
 
I understand your "lights on" and it does help in the sanding process for most situations to sand after roughly turned. Sanding does take a bit more time than a pen mill anyway, but is far more safe and less destructive. It only takes one glitch on a pen mill to learn that. Sanding lets you sneak up on the brass and having turned to rough size, helps speed up the process.

I was reading in the latest "Fine Woodworking" today and one article was on "Extra effort is not wasted time". It fits the premise of sanding mill versus pen mill well. Pen mill works, is faster, but more difficult to get precise without calamity for most of people; where as sanding mills are slower but much more controllable to perfection.
 
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I think there are a lot of ways to accomplish and optimize these kinds of procedures. Here is what I have been doing for the past couple of years (many of these steps have been mentioned already).

1. I use a jig that I designed for my bandsaw to first cut the blank to length. It is fast and repeatable and does not rely on me measuring and marking the blank for making the cuts. It was based on a jig that was designed by Tim Geist (as can be seen in one of RJB Woodturner's YouTube videos, Pen Blank Cutting Jig - Cut A Perfect Blank Every Time. My jig also uses the miter slot on my saw to keep the cut relatively square and it too uses the brass tube itself as a gauge pin for setting the length. When the tube is laid in a slot on the gauge, the gauge is slid up against it and is locked so that the blank will be cut 1/16"-inch (1.5mm) longer than the tube. This allows for a little room to accomodate squaring the blank to the tube after the blank has been drilled and the tube glued in.

2. I use a jig that I designed for my disc sander that uses a rod (piece of mandrel) to hold the pen so that the tube is 90-degrees to the face of the sanding disc. The jig was based on Penn State's Universal Pen Blank Squaring Jig and uses the miter slot in my sander. It also uses PSI's Barrel Trimming Sleeve Set (and a few custom made sleeves) that center the blank on the rod. Since there is minimal material to remove from the blank already (only about 1/32"-inch (0.75mm) from each end, the sanding process is relatively fast and accurate.

3. I use a jig that I designed for my bandsaw to trim the excess material (essentially the corners) off of the blank to make it more round (actually octagonal). The design is essentially an improved version of the commercial Corner-B-Gone Blank Rounding Jig (that was once carried by PSI but now can be found at Turners Warehouse). My design uses octagonal guides (rather than square) that ride on the bandsaw fence that are used to trim all 8 sides of the blank into a round-ish, octagonal shape. Since the blank mounts on the jig using the turning bushings, the sides of the blank that are sawed off are relative to the tube regardless of whether or not the hole may have been drilled off center or at an angle.

Anyhow, that has been my approach and it has been working quite well.

Regards,
Dave
 
I started out with a pen mill in the drill press, had a couple issues with that and ordered Rick's blank sanding jig for the lathe. It works great and I have not had any problems with chipping, etc., but it is a little slow. I have prepped and turned 4 pens in the past couple weeks. I took the blank down to about 1/16" from the tube on the drill press and finished on the lathe jig. This seems to be a good compromise, but not sure I will keep using the pen mill.

Mike
 
This is probably a more expensive option, but I am extremely limited on space, and this fit my needs.
I have Rick's sanding jig and two dedicated sanding face plates. One has an 80-grit adhesive disc, and the other has a 220-grit. If I have a lot of stock to remove, I use the 80-grit face plate first, then switch to the 220-grit for the final 1/32" or 1/64". You could of course make your own face plates, though I don't recommend it unless you have the tap/die set for your headstock thread. I could never get good results holding a disc in a chuck.
I do have a pen mill, and might start using it again for the "rough cut" portion just to cut down on use of the disposable sandpaper, but I'm not sure it will save me much time.
The best thing in this situation is to practice getting the blank to the right length before you drill so there's minimal work no matter what solution you use to square the ends.
 
I have used a pen mill for years. Sharpened the cutter wrong and had to buy a new one. I have a sanding disk on a faceplate with a DIY sanding table. Unless I do several blanks at one time, it's quicker to use the pen mill in the drill press. I apply pressure a bit at a time. Very little when approaching the tube, then very slight pressure until I see bright brass. Never had a problem with blank length.
 
I have my blank cutting jig set up to give me an extra 3/32" inch for squaring, but my drill press alignment is spot on so I've been thinking about tweaking it down to just 1/16 . It seems like I always have plenty to sand off. (For me, using the pen mill on wood blanks was a disaster, even with a good carbide one).

Dave
 
When I pour blanks I use the vertical casting method and do not care how much is left over. I cut most off using my scrollsaw but a bandsaw or tablesaw will work too. Then take to belt sander to get close to tube. Finally put on the lathe and sand there with a flat plate as most do. I try not to sweat the small stuff when making pens and create something that is not a big deal. Too much else to be concerned with. Just my way of thinking.
 
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